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The Tinkerer's Vs. System Workshop
Avengers Sneak Preview
08-02-05

Hey there everyone. It’s me again your old buddy the Tinkerer here this time to tell you all about my adventure this past weekend at the Avengers sneak peek tournament. In this installment of my workshop I’ll be talking a little about the cards I played, what cards to look out for when playing a sealed pack format with the new set, and about the prizes given out to the top finishers.

For starters the prizes totally kicked butt this time. Just for entering the tournament the tournament director passed out two extended art stackable (like Daredevil and Punisher when Marvel Knights sneak previews were held) Captain America and Iron Man promos. Unfortunately this time around neither card was rare (like the previously mentioned Daredevil was) but who can want everything. The cards still looked awesome nonetheless. The top 4 finishers each receiver a full set of prizes including a slick new playmate featuring a stunning fully painted portrait of the Avengers painted by none other than Alex Ross himself. An Avengers steel deck box featuring Thor on one side and Iron Man on the other with artwork supplied by Vs. long standing artist Andrew Robinson who did an amazing job on most of the cards. A brand spanking new tee-shirt was included in beep blue with the Avengers logo and a giant silk screened Iron Man on the back (It’s a little itchy though, even after a wash). My favorite prize though was the extended art version of Earths Mightiest Heroes. Featuring the current highest printed attack increasing of +7 atk it is sure to be highly coveted by Vs. players everywhere. Door prizes consisting of all the above items except the EA Earths Mightiest Heroes were passed out at random during the first tournament. My girlfriend and I were the lucky recipients of those sweet looking deck boxes while her awesome little sister was lucky enough to receive one of those Alex Ross playmates. Go KT!!!

As for the set it’s self I’m excited. I’ll admit it, I always get excited whenever the dawn of a new set is upon us, but this time the cards are good, I mean really good. I played in two flights Saturday (2 different tournaments at the same store) taking 4th in the first one and winning the second one overall. First time through out of the five packs I opened it was like an Avengers bonanza. I made a smooth curve of character from the one drop rare Jarvis (if Jarvis would become stunned you may instead return him to your hand to search for an Avengers character card), to Falcon and the Black Knight in the 2 spot, to Black Panther and Captain America at 3, to Iron Man and Carol Danvers at 4, 5 was hank Pym <>Giant Man and Scarlet Witch, with Vision making an appearance in the 6 slot. Filler came in the form a 3-drop Moonglow and a 6-drop Hyperion from the Squadron Supreme team. A 5 and 7 drop Beetle from the Thunderbolts and a huge 4-drop Iron Man (11atk/7def with Invulnerability while attacking) from the Thunderbolts with loyalty to them and to the Avengers. Plus the Wrecker as yet another 6 from the Masters of Evil There were other cards, but since Saturday I’ve needed the card sleeves I used for playing that day and no longer have my actual deck list available anymore.

In the second go around I went a little more wild, and it paid off big time. The packs I opened this time didn’t seem to have any real cohesive force binding the characters together so I decided to go rogue with my build this time. Fortunately for sealed pack players this set is jam packed with (about 8) different Team-Up cards and numerous ways to search them out. I believe I pulled about 4 Team-Ups out and decided to go to town. Completely bypassing my 1 spot I used a Falcon and Wasp (Avengers), Shape (Squadron Supreme) and a Screaming Mimi (Masters of Evil) for my 2 spot characters. Captain America and Quicksilver (Avengers) and I somehow got my hands on a pair of Mammomax who is an uncommon Brotherhood character with stats of 7/4. 4 spot consisted of Golden Archer (SS) Mr. Hyde (MoE) Piledriver (MoE) and the rare 4-drop Thor (AVG) who is so friggin’ good if you open him in a pack you should do your best to structure your entire deck around him. Turn 5 brought Scarlet Witch again and a Thunderball (MoE) along with the non-rare 5 Kang. For my 6th turn I used the other version of Iron Man who is just too darn good to pass up and a Helmut Zemo<>Citizen V. Arcana is an absolutely insane 7-drop from the Squadron Supreme who went along with Hank Pym<>Goliath.

Plot Twists are good all around and most of them are very common. A card called Call Down the Lightning came in so handy in both rounds of the tournament I can hardly believe it (As an additional cost to play, replace a reservist resource you control. Target attacker you control gets +3 attack this attack. If you replaced an Avengers character card, that attacker also gets +3 defense this attack.) Kinda like an It’s Clobberin’ Time for Avengers. Repulsor Ray is another good attack boosting card that is generic but helps you more if you control an Avengers character (Target attacker you control gets +2 attack this attack. If that attacker has the Avengers team affiliation, your opponent cannot use character payment powers this turn.) Justice Like Lightning (Target attacker you control gets +2 ATK this attack. If that attacker has the Thunderbolts affiliation exhaust a character your opponent controls) is an excellent plot twist that not only boosts your attack but gives you a little of a control element in a format with virtually none is always a nice pull. Call to Arms is a completely generic Plot Twist (Target attacker you control gets +2 atk this attack, if it has two or more team affiliations it gets an additional +2 atk) that will add strength to and sealed deck. Shrink is a really versatile card as well (Target attacker gets -2 atk/+2 def this attack) on more than one occasion I found myself shrinking my own character to prevent a mutual stun then boosting my own attack again to ensure the stun.

Wish I had something to say about the Locations and Equipment in this set, but there weren’t any I saw that really impressed me with the exception of Minjor, Thor’s Hammer. Not an exceptionally good card for sealed…especially since it’s rare, can only be equipped to Thor, and both versions of Thor are also rare….but may be really cool in a constructed Avengers deck.

So all in all I want to give kudos to Upper Deck for making a seeming well balanced and thoroughly entertaining new expansion set for our entertainment. I also want to thank our tournament organizer for the day who decided he really wanted to give away all the prizes he had…quite a few to me. So thank you TO for letting me and my girl take home a total of 6 sets of stacker promos, 2 tee-shirts, 3 deck boxes, 2 playmats, and 4 extended art Earths Mightiest Heroes. Not a bad haul if I do say so myself.

Now I want every one of you to get out there and play. This set is so much fun and I can’t wait for people to start sending me deck lists for the new teams.


So until next time,

……..I’ll see ya when I see ya.



Next time on the Tinkerer’s Workshop….TEAM X-CHANGE!!!